OUT OF THIS WORLD

I just watched part one of a two-part television programme called “Preachers to be.” It followed the journeys of trainee preachers in three of the UK’s largest religions: Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. The preachers-to-be representing Hinduism were two Hare Krishna students based at Bhaktivedanta Manor near Watford. The emphasis of their training was on becoming qualified Brahmanas and thus being allowed to serve the deities on the altar and perform a wedding ceremony and other rituals within the temple. In contrast, the training of the Christian and Muslim preachers emphasized people skills and interacting with the community.

The programme showed a student Imam speaking on his own radio show and going out to meet people. He also had to give a sermon, on which his teacher offered him some constructive feedback. The Christian trainee had to learn how to deal with conflict in the community and how to minister to people and serve out communion. And the Hare Krishnas? The students were not qualified to do anything much because they were not Brahmanas yet. One monk explained how he was not allowed to cross over the line separating him from the altar. Many of the scenes were inside the temple room. There were some strange shots of a monk sitting close to the wall and facing it, rocking slightly and chanting. One of the students, a celebate monk, was shown alone in the library as a festive wedding was going on in the temple room. The one time that a student went out on the streets, he was visiting Indian shops, trying to raise money. Something that the Hare Krishna students were trying to learn, but apparently failing at, was how to organize themselves and others.

A preacher has to be a shining example of whatever he/she represents, and for a Hare Krishna that means developing the qualities of a Brahmana, but if a preacher wants to reach out to others, then he/she also has to know where the world is at and what the people want. The impression that this programme leaves me with is that the Muslims preachers are keeping up with the world around them, and the Christians are making a good effort too, but the Hare Krishnas are quite isolated.

In the programme, Sanatana Goswami dasa, one of the trainee Hare Krishna priests, faced a board of seniors to decide whether or not he was ready to become a qualified Brahmana. They criticized his weak points and failed him. As the programme was ending, the narrator asked “will Sanatana be allowed to become a Brahmana or will he leave Hinduism behind?”

This programme did not give an accurate depiction of most of the Hare Krishna preachers that I know, or of the training they received. Perhaps the title of the programme is misleading. I know many successful preachers who do not perform wedding ceremonies or serve on the altar but they do reach out to people and help them. After watching this programme, I would say that the Hare Krishna students at Bhaktivedanta Manor are being trained more as priests than as preachers. Sadly, the viewers are unlikely to know the difference and may take this style of training as representative of the training methods used in the Hare Krishna movement and in Hinduism in general.

For information about another type of training for preachers in the Hare Krishna movement, visit www.bhaktivedantacollege.com

For anyone interested in finding out what some other full-time or part-time Hare Krishna preachers (in the real world) are up to, I recommend a visit to the following blogs:
www.mayapurforum.net/namahatta/
www.sitapati.info
www.deltaflow.com